they have not flooded the zone here with the candidates the way george w. bush did in 2004. but we certainly expect a close and competitive election. >> bret: joe, back in ohio, you know a lot of people talk about enthusiasm. what are you seeing in the state of ohio enthusiasm wise? >> well, before the first debate, i thought that obama had almost put this election away. but he blew the first debate. it's hard to say how the hurricane impacted that. froze the race in place. there is less enthusiasm for obama this time for sure. romney has more than mccain had in 2008. >> bret: then in north carolina, what about the machine on both sides? >> we have had 1.4 million early voters. the obama organization never closed up shot from 2008. critical in north carolina. one thing that makes north carolina interesting is that it has the largest african-american population of any of the battleground states. >> bret: last word, craig. machine in wisconsin? >> yeah, well, wisconsin is the highest turn-out state of the battlegrounds and it's very organized, engaged mobilized state as we hav